About Ketchup

All About Catsup, Hot Foods and Jalapeno Ketchup

Catsup or Ketchup?

This history of Ketchup or Catsup is fascinating. It began as different foods and an East Indian sauce which later evolved into what we call Ketchup.

Ben talking: "It was George Toomer aka 'Buffalo George' who first explained to me how ketchup first came into being as a fish sauce in the orient and that it was called keechop. I never gave it much thought until now and started researching the subject and decided to make a chronological table to track the development of Ketchup aka Catsup."

Chart of Major Historical Milestones of the Condiment known as "Ketchup" by Ben Drum

1519 - Cortez first discovered tomatoes growing in Montezuma's gardens and brought back seeds to Europe and planted as ornamental curiosities but not eaten. (small yellow variety)

1595 - The Spanish Word Tomati first appeared in print from which the English word Tomato is derived. (pronounced toe-MAH-tay) as members of the Nightshade family which includes poisonous plants, they were deemed inedible

169? - French botanist Tournefort (1656-1708) bestowed on the tomato the Latin botanical name Lycopersicon esculentum, which translates to "wolf-peach," a reference to the third century writings of Galen concerning a poison in a palatable package which was used to destroy wolves. (It was widely believed that Tomatoes were poisonous)

Late 1600's - Chinese call a mixture of pickled fish and spices "kÃ´e-chiap or kÃª-chiap" (some purport this Chinese "fish sauce" to be called ke-tsiap)

1690 - Dictionary of the Canting Crew spells Ketchup as catchup (the New Dictionary of the Canting Crew 1690 defines it as 'a high East-India Sauce')

1730 - The term "Catsup" first used in a quote by Jonathon Swift: "And, for our home-bred British cheer, Botargo, catsup, and caveer".

1740's - Ketchup fish sauce becomes a staple for the English.

1748 - Sarah Harrison, The Housekeeper's Pocket-Book and Compleat Family Cook i. (ed.4)2 I therefore advise you to lay in a Store of Spices, ... neither ought you to be without ... Kitchup, or Mushroom Juice.

1874 - Mordecai C. Cooke, Fungi; Their Nature, Influence and Uses 89 One important use to which several ... fungi can be applied, is the manufacture of ketchup.

1876 - Henry John Heinz launches his tomato ketchup.

1913 - Webster's Dictionary defined "catchup" as a "table sauce made from mushrooms, tomatoes, walnuts, etc. [also written as ketchup]"

During the 1900's - Many different Brands are made including Brooks Ketchup

1981 - In July, Ben Drum stops off at the Church's Chicken at 50th and Ave. Q in Lubbock, Texas and Dips a Jalapeno in Ketchup and comes up with the Idea of Jalapeno Ketchup and makes it.

1981 - Early in Ronald Reagan's Administration, the U.S. Government declares Ketchup and Pickle Relish "Vegetables" the school lunch program. The proposal was ridiculed and dropped.

1983-84 - Standard for Ketchup is embodied in the Code of Federal Regulation at 21 CFR Â§155.194

1994 - Ben with his friend works on perfecting the recipe for several months and selects design for his trade dress.

1995 - Ben's Jalapeno Ketchup is bottled commercially for the first time with the perfected formulation which has never changed - never cheapened - The Original, still the Best.

1996 - 2006 Ben's Spiceitup! Jalapeno Ketchup goes live on the World Wide Web and has A Ten year period of Award Winning quality and recognition from several different sources. See Awards at bottom of www.spiceitup.com.

199? - Ketchup, being composed of cooked Tomatoes is found to contain high levels of bioavailable Lycopene, a bright red carotene antioxidant associated with decreased cancer risk.

2004 - SpiceItUp! Jalapeno Ketchup and Ben are reviewed by D-Magazine and The Food Network - JKC, Inc. is swamped.

2009 - At 2:01 PM EDT On May 11, The Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on its' 30th Flight and carried Portion Packs of Spiceitup! Brand Jalapeno Ketchup. Certificate of Authenticity can be seen at the Spiceitup.com web site by clicking on the Shuttle Icon at the bottom right of the page.

At Spiceitup! we also believe there is evidence that New Yorkers or Bostonian People continue to spell Catsup the way they speak it. But "Spicy Catsup " was never made in the NorthEast like the " Hot Ketchup " first made in West Texas in July of 1981.

Hot Ketchup or Spicy Ketchup?

Is Jalapeno Ketchup Hot Ketchup or Spicy Ketchup? The answer is Yes.
Just know this, we aren't out to be the hottest, our aim from the beginning was to have a superior gourmet taste and not to be known for a gimmicky attempt to market on heat level.

Hot can be a measure of temperature or in the case of Jalapeno Ketchup, a measure of the spicy heat. This is measured by scale of measure known as Scoville Units named after its creator, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville whose Organoleptic Test method was devised in 1912. A more modern quantitative analysis uses high-performance liquid chromatography, making it possible to directly measure capsaicinoid content.

Below is a Chart compiled by Drum that groups Pepper Heat in Ranges from least to hottest